Girl X – Black and Red

For our colour unit in drama, one of the colour combinations we studied was black and red. For this task, our teacher was in a role of a physiatrist, was telling us the case of a 7 year old girl found on the streets that refused to speak. To get the girl communicating, the girl was told to draw a picture. She drew a red circle in the center of the page, engulfed in a sea of black scribbles. Our task was to analyse the image, and stream our thoughts and ideas about the picture into an abstract piece of drama. In my group, we decided that the red circle was the girl, and that the blackness around her was the girl being trapped.
We also asserted that the blackness is an older male related to the girl in someway, that has abused her and she is trapped because of the events. We used an array of techniques; the first being characterisation. The girl was named Emily, which to me seems like an innocent name, which would help build the sympathy the audience has towards her and also create anxiety in her situation. We performed with the audience being scattered and with no lights. This is very effective as it makes the audience feel as if they are there alongside the girl.
We would have members of our group stationed around different positions in the stage, and in turn they would each be running on the spot. This is to create the impression that there is someone running, and it would be dangerous for one person to be running around the stage as it is in thee dark. Suddenly the running would stop and a voice starts to pant. This is then where we incorporate another technique, the silence. The silence would be for 10 seconds. This is heavily effective, as its in the dark and the audience do not know what is going on after the fact they heard someone running.

Suddenly a scream would come out form nowhere, which breaks the silence. Then another silence is used, for around 7 seconds. During the whole scene I was in the center of the stage. After the silence, I turn on a lighter and say, “I am watching you. ” This is striking, as someone appearing from nowhere in the middle of a dark stage was not anticipated by the audience. This task helped me understand a lot of things. It made me understand many positions that people can be in, and how colour can express emotions such as: anger, fear, helplessness.